Ties That Bind Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to Boston Mosque

The spiritual head of the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has a long history in Boston, Massachusetts. And the relationship continues.

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Chana Ya'ar, 20/02/11 12:17 | updated: 12:34

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Israel news photo: Wikipedia

The spiritual leader of the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has a long history in Boston, Massachusetts.

And the relationship continues, despite denials by the leaders of the Boston mosque – the largest in New England -- where Yusuf al-Qaradawi once reigned as trustee.

According to a report released Friday by the Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) organization, the imam who long preached his hatred of Jews, homosexuals and women, is currently the leader of the Islamic American University -- a major project of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the organization that runs the Boston mosque. However, any mention of al-Qaradawi is carefully omitted from the site. In fact, there is no information at all about any of the university's leadership on its site, other than a brief videotaped message by an unnamed "director."

Federal prosecutors have named the MAS as the arm of the American branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I will shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus I will seal my life with martyrdom. Praise be to Allah,” Qaradawi once prayed publicly, according to the APT.

Writing for the organization, Charles Jacobs, Dennis Hale and Ahmed Mansour noted, “On videotape, Qaradawi has said that homosexuals should be killed. When he was a trustee of the Boston mosque, its website featured teachings on how to beat one's wife.”

Jacobs, president of APT, commented, “Considering the relationship between New England's biggest mosque and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it would seem that the nation's concern over this extremist group should extend from Cairo to the Hub.”

After Qaradawi was banned from the United States by President Bill Clinton in 1999, the Boston mosque featured a video address by the imam at its major fundraiser, held at the Boston Sheraton Hotel.

Qaradawi has since ruled that Muslims are allowed to kill Israeli women under Islamic law, because they serve in the military, and he preached that Muslims should acquire nuclear weapons to “terrorize their enemies.”